The St. Johns herald., 1887-06-23
COUNTERFEIT COIN.
How Spurious Money i. Made in \. Y. cIt.

OUUGIbhf b11 OOlNs
 How Spurious Money is Made in S. r. CHr
 Counterfoiung United States coins and bills fs said to be carr. cd on now as much as formerly. says the New York Commer- cial Adve tiseT, but there hayo been many changes in its methods and the manner of getting rid of the "qucer" when made.
 The days of the hidden nook in the mountain, where. in a hut, the exp Tt maker of base coins carried on lis nc- farious trade with door carefully b2rri- caded a rifles and revolvers lying about within easy reach, are ever. Now the coin is made mostly in cIti s, and that too lr crowde1 neighborhoOds.
 In the making of bad coins in this city the Italians have a monopoly, and it Is aga nst the Italian workmen that Chief D. ummond, of theS.cret Service Buresu in this city. is kept busy. procuring evil dence and bringing them to court. AL mot without exception, every Italian counterfeiter arrested in this city during the last three arS-and there have been many of them captured-has said that he came from Sicily.
 They are, as a rule, dull-looking, ig- nOraDt fellows, notwithstanding their skill in furnishing and manufacturing the coins. Most frequently they have little knowledge of the iewelry trade, and apparently they take as nstulally to cOunterfeitIng as fish to water. A num- Der of Italial.s in this city who are not makers of bad coins are always ready to pass those made by others, and the skilled devi CT of illegitimate money Is to them hero.
 HOW THE coINs ARE MADE.
 Ire workman hires flat in tene- ment, into which he moves his family, rrserving one room as @ workshop.
 He lays in Rstock of antimony, plaster of paris, moulds, Q lathe, and other ap. pliances, and is ready for business. Rarely do his neighbors suspect that anything Is wrong. He takes good coin for pattern, and soon has the room filled with the coins in various stages of construction.
 Never does the maker attempt to pass the money himself. He either sells 1t to tho passer, or. more frequently, to middle man. For this reason 1t Is diffi- cult to get at the makers, and the Se- cret Service detectives are always happy whcn they find workshop with kit of tools and good supply of stock. The middle men sell to the man who does the passing.
 Bad coin can be bought nt the rate of $4 for ten bad dollars, though higher prices are usually charged at first. When the passer gets the coin he usually froquen the side streets, where in small cigar stores and confectionery shops he passes of his spurious dollars, etc, Tn payment for small articles. thus recelv- ing good money in change.
 Tho law requires that Intent to de- ceive" must be proven against the of- fender, and for this reason the ounter- felt money pasSers go often in pairs.
 One man carries the coin. He deals 1t out one coin at q time to his companion, who enters the shop, while the ther re- mains outside. Thus If the passer is ar rested no other bad coins will le found Cn his person, and he can assert that he did rot know that the one coin le had offered Tn payment was bad. Many cs- cape conviction by this method.
 THE MEN WHO PASS THE coUNTERFEITs.
 The fruit stand Italians are usually unscrupulous in working off bad money. though they seldom have stock of any lUlLE Ot iatIbCI UeHOLllIldIlOu IHhI ulI1lSa and qunrtfrs. More than half of the small coin that Is bad works It's way Into circulation through these follows.
 YoI tell the vcnder that tho coin Is bad. md he will immediately cry out:
 "ie TO tell bada money; mo lust come from I,aIy."
 paratively few arrests are mado on complaint of the poliIe. When bad money is received unwittingly, low hesi- tate to pass l: on. There is cheap rcs- taurant kerper ou the old Chatham eet who, every few weeks, brings all the bad coins he has taken in down To the Secret Service Bureau in the Post OEflce build ing. Very few take this trouble.
 There is an erroneous idea abroad that the Government makes good the bad money received. This is a mistatIe Tho Government conGsca:es all had coins, and the only relief of tho person imposed upon Is a civil suit in one of the District courts against the paS-er r the value of the money lost.
 The epasser of counterfeit money, when con, icted. may receive as heavy sen tenro as ten years in State prison and 8 fine of $1, 1,000.
 Apparently there Is an attractlveness about making tho coin, and when dis charged from psison the manufacturer almost invariably goes back to the old business.